Hat Trick

I like Diane Birch, but LOVE her hat.

Nothing But A Miracle - Diane ...

Monsters of Folk

Monsters of Folk is being heralded as the new Traveling Wilburys because of the all-star line up of M. Ward, Jim Jones of My Morning Jacket, plus Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes. I'm not sure if anything compares to a band that counts both Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan amoung its members, but from what I heard their stuff is really good.

The Right Place - Monsters of ...

Birthday Apéritif

Rosa Regale, a red sparkling wine, sweetened my birthday celebration this weekend.

We also enjoyed some tasty appetizers, including a cured meat platter from Marlow and Daughters. I was so happy to have an excuse to shop there that I wasn't even that grossed out by the live action butchering that was going on right before my eyes.

Perception vs. Reality

Composer Nico Muhly spoke to a room full of composition students, musicians and others yesterday on my lunch break. Because of his age, his cuteness, his professional grooming (protege of Philip Glass) and his more mainstream musical collaborations, Nico gets a lot of press. Its funny, most stories I read describe him as "impish" or use similar adjectives which I thought was silly before seeing him in the flesh. He truly is like some magical, wonderful, musical elf.

Plus he's an entertaining and articulate speaker. He dispensed invaluable advice to his audience when asked about his particular career path, his compositional process and navigating the special relationship between musicians, commissions and composers. Sometimes I forget that composers are such unique and special breeds of musicians.

Nico writes a prolific blog and one student asked a question directly lifted from the content of one of Nico's entries. It was a loaded inquiry regarding the New Music "scene" in New York and elsewhere. I admired his diplomacy and reluctance to perpetuate any exclusivity or negativity by dispelling any type of music scene to be more "perception than reality."

Mothertongue Pt. 2: Shower - N...

image via esquire.com

Oxford Comma

Birthday present to myself! So cute, right? Actually, they are kind of boring, but perfect basics for my fall wardrobe.

Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

Shana Tova!

We celebrated Rosh Hashanah with my dear BU friend Dave and his family on Roosevelt Island last night. The food was amazing- gefilte fish, fluffy challah and the most delicious dish ever: cholent, a hearty stew with lamb, potatoes, egg, and beans.

Happy new year!

The Retributionists

I received comp tickets to the matinee of The Retributionists at the Playwrights Horizons theater in midtown over the weekend. The lead actress moo-ed her lines so distractingly I could scarcely enjoy the play at all. She was supposed to be some kind of manipulative femme fatale revenge mastermind, but instead she was just kind of exhausting.

The handsome Adam Driver provided some consolation. While he was at Juilliard, I saw him in Burn This and have been a fan ever since. His performance yesterday was a bright spot in this otherwise grim production.